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The man, wearing a brown robe, is filmed sitting cross-legged with his hands apparently bound.

He is pulled forward and laid face down on the grass as the crowd chant 'Allahu akbar' and take photos.

He is then decapitated, using what looks like a rudimentary kitchen knife.

Dozens of camera phones are shoved forward by the baying crowd as the scene turns more bloody.

Fides News Agency says the
'circumstances of the death are not fully understood' but said his death
has been confirmed by the Custos of the Holy Land - the convent where Father Francois had been staying.

It has not been confirmed Father Francois was beheaded.

Assad's forces pounded Sunni Muslim
rebels in the city of Homs with artillery and from the air on Sunday,
the second day of their offensive in central Syria, activists said.

They said rebels defending the old centre of Homs and five adjacent Sunni districts had largely repelled a ground attack on Saturday by Assad's forces, backed by guerrillas from the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, but reported clashes and deaths within the city on Sunday.

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Mohammad Mroueh, a member of the opposition 'Homs Crisis Cell' said at least 25 loyalist troops including four Hezbollah fighters had been killed in Homs in the previous 24 hours.

Such reports are difficult to verify in Syria, where independent media cannot usually report freely.

The opposition Syrian National Coalition said in a statement that it feared that Assad's forces will use chemical weapons on the city 'after the regime's campaign on Homs failed to achieve any important results.'

The offensive follows steady military gains by Assad's forces, backed by Hezbollah, in villages in Homs province and towns close to the Lebanese border.

Opposition sources and diplomats said the loyalist advance had tightened the siege of Homs and secured a main road link to Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon and to army bases in Alawite-held territory near the Syrian coast, the main entry point for Russian arms that have given Assad an advantage in firepower.

Destruction: Homes are seen destroyed by Syrian government airstrikes and shelling in Aleppo, Syria

Devastating: More than two years of fighting in Syria's civil war has damaged some 9,000 state buildings and run up $15 billion in losses to the public sector, a government minister said Sunday

Crater: A man sits next to the damaged area outside Khalid bin al Walid Mosque in Homs

At least 100,000 people have been
killed since the Syrian revolt against four decades of rule by Assad and
his late father erupted in March 2011, making the uprising the
bloodiest of the Arab Spring revolutions against entrenched autocrats.

Assistance: Rescuers and neighboors removes chunks of rubble from a partially collapsed building after a rocketed slammed into the side of a residential block located next to a mosque in the northern city of Aleppo

Injured: A wounded Syrian man walks past rescuers and others gathered at the scene after a rocket slammed into the side of a residential building

Opposition activists said a woman and child had been killed in a strike by government aircraft on the old city of Homs, home to hundreds of civilians.

Video footage taken by the activists showed the bodies being carried in blankets and a man holding a wounded child with a gash in his head.

Rebel fighters fought loyalist forces backed by tanks in the old covered market, which links the old city with Khalidiya, a district inhabited by members of tribes who have been at the forefront of the armed insurgency.

'After failing to make any
significant advances yesterday, the regime is trying to sever the link
between Khalidiya and the old city,' Abu Bilal, one of the activists,
said from Homs.

'We are
seeing a sectarian attack on Homs par excellence, The army has taken a
back role. Most of the attacking forces are comprised of Alawite militia
being directed by Hezbollah.'

Checks: A member of the Free Syrian Army mans a checkpoint during a siege on the Kurdish city of Afrin, which is under the control of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), in the Aleppo countryside

Tension: A view of the Shi'ite villages of Nubbul and Al-Zahraa that the Free Syrian Army plans to siege in the Aleppo countryside

Alawites belong to an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam and have controlled Syria since the 1960s, when members of the sect took over the army and security apparatus in the mainly Sunni country.

Activists said loyalist forces have been issued with masks as protection against chemical weapons.

They said sarin gas had been used in the past few months to dislodge rebel fighters from Deir Baalba, a town northeast of Homs.

'Old Homs and the adjacent areas have been under siege for more than a year and unless the fighters receive new weapons quickly the regime's new tactics of levelling neighbourhood after neighbourhoods will eventually force the rebels out,' said an opposition campaigner who did not want to be named.

'Chemical weapons will accelerate the regime's takeover of Homs,' he added.

Syrian authorities have denied using chemical weapons in the conflict and accused the opposition of using them.

The United States has concluded that Assad's forces have used chemical weapons on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year.

Advances: A Free Syrian Army member stands on a lookout point beside the Shi'ite villages of Nubbul and Al-Zahraa

Support: Syrian refugees hold a large Syrian opposition flag, with a length of 300 metres, to show their support for the Syrian opposition against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at Al Zaatri refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq

Saudi Arabia, a foe of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has urged the European Union to arm Syrian rebels without delay, following similar action by the United States.

The European Union lifted restrictions on arming the rebels in May when it failed to renew a weapons arms embargo before it expired on June 1. But Britain and France, which had advocated lifting the ban, said they would not send weapons before Aug. 1.

'The Syrian opposition is not only fighting an illegitimate regime, but also fighting a foreign occupier,' Saudi state news agency SPA quoted Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal as telling an EU-GCC ministerial meeting in Bahrain on Sunday.

He was referring to Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah forces that have joined in recent fighting alongside Assad's military, notably spearheading the capture of the border town of Qusair.

'The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ... refers to the EU resolution to lift the ban on arming the Syrian opposition, and calls for the implementation of this resolution in light of the grievous realities on the ground in Syria,' Prince Saud said.

Gains by Assad's forces and Hezbollah's involvement have prompted the United States to promise the rebels military aid beyond the non-lethal equipment it had previously supplied.

The New York Times reported in June that the supplies, to be coordinated by the CIA, might include anti-tank weapons.